The Manipur Kingdom also known as Meckley was an ancient kingdom at the India–Burma frontier. Historically, Manipur was an independent kingdom ruled by a Meitei dynasty. But it was also invaded and ruled over by Burmese kingdom at various point of time. It became a protectorate of the British East India Company from 1824, and a princely state of British Raj in 1891. It bordered Assam Province in the west and British Burma in the east, and in the 20th century covered an area of 22,327 square kilometres and contained 467 villages. The capital of the state was Imphal.